About Me

Devil Dog is the nom de guerre of travel writer Joel Berliner.
Joel wrote extensively for The Washington Times for a number of years, and has recently published travel articles in New York Newsday, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and The Honolulu Advertiser

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Seismic Wonder

It has been quite an election season, with a blockbuster finish that I think, regardless of party or political persuasion, we can all be proud of as Americans. The Devil Dog is a patriot, and I am sure that all of us wish President Obama and our country well as we embark on the next four years of the great American adventure.

The events of the last week, and the last two years, can only be described as seismic, and with that in mind we thought we would take an aerial view of Kilauea Iki volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Always a fan of helicopter tours and the perspective it provides, above we see the center of a bubbling volcanic cauldren. Below is the view from inside the cockpit as our pilot from Blue Hawaiian Helicopters circles the volcano below.

The Devil Dog departs for Kona tomorrow, where for the next 9 days we will cover the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, culminating in the awarding of this years coveted Gavalia Cup to the outstanding coffee farm in Kona. Hawaii is always an amazing place, and this trip will let us look at Honaunau, Kealekekua, and Holualoa in depth as we explore a slice of Hawaii that is largely unchanged from 100 years ago, where some growers actually live off the grid with catchment water and solar power.

So we leave the election season with a look at a genuine flaming cauldren as it erupts with volcanic magma from deep inside the earth. The steaming warfare of our political system is no match for the power of the earth itself, but our vision of the future is intact as America moves foward into the 21st century.

With that in mind the Devil Dog declares a break from politics and an immersion into the beauty and glory of the Big Island of Hawaii. See you tomorrow...in Kona.